You're The Voice (single)
"You're The Voice" is a song, and subsequent single, which was written by Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson for John Farnham, which he recorded for his sixteenth album Whispering Jack released in 1986. Reid, who wrote the lyrics, told Songfacts: "It's an anti-war song in a way, but it was more of a 'make your voice heard' kind of thing. Wake up to your own power." The song was awarded the 1987 Aria Award for "Single of the Year". The song was one of the biggest hits of the year in Australia, topping the singles chart there for many weeks. It is also one of Farnham's biggest international successes, reaching the top 10 in many European countries, although in the US it performed relatively poorly. BMG/RCA re-released the song in the US in February 1990, after Farnham made the Adult Contemporary charts with "Two Strong Hearts". It spent 8 weeks on the charts, peaking only at #82. Cover versions The following artists covered the song: *A Voice of one choir featuring Liam Moore 2009 anti gun and gang charity single for Rhys Jones memorial fund. *Scott Grimes on his 1989 self-titled album. *David Foster with vocalist Jeff Pescetto on 1990 album River of Love. *Brenda Cochrane on her second album The Voice which went gold in the autumn of 1990. *Heart on their live album Rock the House Live! (1991). They also released it as a single, peaking at 20 in the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number 56 in the UK. The song appears on their compilation albums Greatest Hits: 1985-1995 (1995) (studio version) and on The Essential Heart (2002) (live version). *Pop group Bucks Fizz on their live album Live at Fairfield Halls (1991). *Lavrentis Machairitsas (Greek: Λαυρέντης Μαχαιρίτσας) in 1993 on his album Throw Red at the Night (Greek: Ρίξε κόκκινο στη Νύχτα). *Rebecca St. James in 1996 on her album God. *Alan Parsons on his 1996 album The Very Best Live as an unreleased studio version that allowed Chris Thompson a chance to record his own song as lead vocalist. *John Berry on his 1999 album Wildest Dreams. *Chris Thompson on the version found on the SAS Band's self titled album from 2004. *The British vocal group G4 on their 2004 album G4 & Friends. *Guy Sebastian, winner of the first season of Australian Idol, on 5 October 2003, during Australian-Made Songs Week. *KT Tunstall on ITV's Guilty Pleasures show in March 2008. *Kate Miller-Heidke on her special CD/DVD edition (2008) of her debut album Little Eve, a previously unreleased live version, then a separate performance later on Live at The Hi-Fi. *David Archuleta during season 7 of American Idol. The show's theme that week had the finalists singing songs from their year of birth. Archuleta was born in 1990, when Farnham's original version was a minor hit in the US. *Argentinian progressive metal band Eidyllion on their album "Secretos". * On 14 March 2009, Coldplay performed the song with John Farnham at the special Victorian bushfire relief concert "Sound Relief" in Sydney, Australia. * April 2009, Coldplay recording of You're the Voice to be mixed and released by UK dance duo Freemasons (band). * On 25 April 2009 Lisa Hordijk, winner of the Dutch X-Factor 6th round liveshow (quarter finals) * In 25 June 2010, included on the new Blind Guardian single: A Voice in the Dark *In May 2010 the last 12 of the Dutch X-Factor. References in popular culture *The song was played in the riot scene of the 2007 movie Hot Rod. Farnham's classic is played in its near entirety during a parade march to the film's climactic scene (until a guy chucks a garbage can through a storefront window, causing widespread pandemonium and the calling of the riot police, complete with tear gas and bulletproof shields. Rod (Andy Samberg) along with his friends Rico (Dan McBride) and Dave (Bill Hader) and his step-brother Kevin (Jorma Taccone) then complain about how the riot ruined the positivity of the situation ("What the Hell? Was that because of us?"). *It is featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City. *The song has developed a following with fans of the BBC TV show Merlin. The stars of the show Colin Morgan and Bradley James have been seen on set lip-singing parts of the song between film takes, as shown on the Secret and Magic episode 'Love Fool'.